Indian sports wrap, August 21: Pranavi back from injury at Hills Open, Jayalakshmi inspires juniors at ITF Cup

GOLF

Pranavi, Tvesa lead bunch of seven Indians in Sweden

The trio of Pranavi Urs, Tvesa Malik and Vani Kapoor headline a large contingent of Indians at the Euro 300,000 Hills Open golf tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Seven Indians will tee up this week at the event, with the others being rookie Avani Prashanth, Amandeep Drall, Sneha Singh and Hitaashee Bakshi.

India’s top star, Diksha Dagar, has decided to skip the week and rest ahead of the busy second half, which includes the Hero Women’s Indian Open.

While Diksha was racking up a number of top-10 finishes, the other Indian players have been trying to find the momentum in the middle part of this season.

As Pranavi makes a comeback from a wrist injury, Avani is consolidating her position in the first season, and Vani Kapoor and Amandeep are trying to find a regular place on the LET (Ladies European Tour).

Sneha and Hitaashee have been big forces on their home tour, the Women’s Pro Golf Tour, but have yet to find their feet on the LET.

England’s Mimi Rhodes continues to impress in her rookie season as she still leads the Order of Merit (OOM) standings on 1,821.74 points, having played 14 tournaments in the 2025 season schedule.

The 23-year-old will be in action again this week at the Hills Open, with Czechia’s Sara Kouskova also in the field.

The three-time LET winner has enjoyed a strong month, making her debut at the AIG Women’s Open with a T19 finish, while also securing T4 in the individual event and T23 in the team competition at the PIF London Championship.

TENNIS

Former national champion Sai Jayalakshmi inspires juniors at Unifi ITF Cup

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA), on Wednesday, introduced an off-court motivational and mind-training session for all participants at the ongoing ITF Junior Tennis Cup here in Chennai.

The session was headlined by former national champion Sai Jayalakshmi Jayaram, who spoke about her journey and the mindset needed to thrive in modern tennis.

“When I was playing at this level, things were not very professional,” she recalled. “We didn’t really know where we were going. We were the first batch of girls travelling abroad and competing. We just took it step by step, play the state, win, then the nationals, then abroad.

“Nothing was planned, but because of that, we didn’t feel overwhelmed by the results. Today, things are a lot more professional. Players start out aiming to be No.1, but in that process, they sometimes lose out on enjoying the journey.”

Drawing parallels with world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, she added, “When you see Alcaraz play, he looks like he’s having the best time on court. He hits a great drop shot and enjoys it even more than we do watching him.

“He works hard, yes, but he never loses sight of fun. That is the kind of balance every player should aspire to.”

Jayalakshmi also touched upon the challenges young athletes face today.

“Back then, we didn’t have gadgets or screens. We had to make friends, find roommates when we travelled, and communicate. Now there’s so much distraction, phones, iPads, endless content. It’s harder to focus. That’s why mental training is so important,” she added.

Published on Aug 21, 2025